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Re: New draft/FA/offseason thread

Maybe his "official" Combine numbers will be better, but NFLdraftscout has 6'4 286 and 6'3 300 (Mario and Gino).

I do like Travis Frederick (Wisc) quite a bit. Seems like smaller, quicker guys give him some trouble, but yeah he definitely has good power.
Just watched Wisc/Purdue and Frederick vs. Kawann Short (1st/2nd rounder) was pretty much a stalemate the few times they went at it. Short was mostly in the DT, not NT or UT though. Overall, Short (for those of you looking at him) did not have a good game vs. Wisc.

Hell, I'm probably wasting my time watching all of this C tape anyway. Watch us stand pat and move forward with Gino.

Re: New draft/FA/offseason thread

Maybe it is just me, but given that Gino seems to have been well thought of bya few teams, and the team spent a third on him, it might be worth seeing if he can play before spending another high to mid pick on another center...

Re: New draft/FA/offseason thread

And Nevada TE Zach Sudfeld explodes up the board.
Been waiting to see him in action (6'6 255) b/c I wanted to see if he can block worth a damn.

I'm still thinking a low RFA tender for Ed Dickson might get ATL to bite for a 3rd in return. Having three TEs on the roster that can't block is bullshit.

A million percent agreement here.
When we drafted 2 TE's, I actually wanted 2 TE's. But I wanted Gronk, Graham or Hernandez and Hoomanawanui, Collin Peek(oops) or one of the other blcokign first but non-liability as a pass catcher types second(whos names escape me right now). Peek and Hoomanawanui were some of my favorite valued prospects in that draft. Peek hasn't done squat and prob isnt even in the league anymore but Michale H carved out a small place in the St Louis Offense for a bit, and now has a pretty solid place filling in for Gronk, temporarily.
Maybe he will shake free int he offseason. That could make for a great under the radar pcikup.

Re: New draft/FA/offseason thread

Originally Posted by Lee Van Cleef

Maybe it is just me, but given that Gino seems to have been well thought of bya few teams, and the team spent a third on him, it might be worth seeing if he can play before spending another high to mid pick on another center...

It was a 4th, not a 3rd, but admittedly a high 4th (3rd pick in the round, 98th overall) and they gave up a couple picks to make the trade to get him. So yeah, I definitely agree that the Ravens like him and think highly of him.

But that doesn't preclude them taking another interior lineman in the draft, in fact they will likely NEED to do it as they're going to lose a lot of depth on the line with Williams, McKinnie, and Birk all expected to be gone next year. We know Gino can play both guard and center, so I would firmly expect the Ravens to invest another pick in an interior lineman and let the chips fall as they may.

They'll probably look to get another guy who can play both guard and center. I love Benavides as a player and think he's a better fit at center in our system than Gradkowski. If they take Benavides I expect them to let the two compete for the starting center job and whoever loses is the first interior lineman off the bench.

Re: New draft/FA/offseason thread

Yep...Sudfeld is a willing and effective blocker on OLBs, DEs and smaller perimeter guys. He's only in on certain packages for Nevada hence the low production numbers, but he would be a very nice RZ guy with his [perceived] blocking and huge radius. Hopefully, the spread formation TEs are overvalued again this year, and we could grab this cat in the 4th.

Also, Nevada's LT, Jeff Nady looks solid too. Gets to the 2nd level pretty easily. Shutting down his man most of the day, but Arizona is not putting up the best pass rush either. Could be a good depth guy down in the 5th-6th range.

Update: Sudfield was on the sideline for a good portion of the 2nd quarter (still may have been a package thing), but played just about every 2nd half snap. Their offense is designed with the TE running inside counter blocks from the tight slot/H-back position. As such, he had quite a few good seal blocks inside. Smart guy: he'll get his MBA this month. Downside: Past surgeries on knee, leg, shoulder and wrist. (Wth? No complete TE's these days w/o injury histories?)